


Do Snakes Cry?

by Trinz



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Drowning, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Character Death, Philanthropy, Snake is not a good person, Tanker Incident (Metal Gear)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26054293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trinz/pseuds/Trinz
Summary: At the bottom of the Hudson River Snake meets a man who has his own river made of tears.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Do Snakes Cry?

**Author's Note:**

> There are depictions of death and references to(but not depictions of) child death in this fic so readers beware.

“Snake! Snake!” Otacon’s frantic shouting grated against Snake’s ears.

Snake grumbled in response, unable to open his mouth without getting a mouthful of river water. His lungs and head ached as he swam towards a crack in the tanker’s hull, finally seeing the surface far above him. He grabbed the broken metal and pushed himself through the hole just a moment before a hand grasped his leg and yanked him backwards. In a purely instinctual response Snake gasped in surprise, inviting water into his mouth; a harsh and frantic kick dislodged the equally oxygen deprived soldier that latched onto his leg. Snake choked and coughed against the water flooding into his mouth and lungs as he desperately clawed towards the surface.

Otacon’s terrified encouragements were the last thing Snake heard before darkness enveloped his vision.

Snake stood in a stagnant river with waist-high water and massive impossible buildings sitting on its concrete banks, almost blocking the moon above him, which was visible despite the heavy rain.

He was in Hell, Snake’s mind supplied him, he drowned in the Hudson River and now he was going to be tortured for eternity.

A man in combat attire and a black coat rose out of the riverbed with his back to Snake. He spoke softly, almost imperceptible to someone without his sense of hearing.

“Sad… so sad.” The man turned to Snake and removed his hood. “I am the Sorrow.”

He didn't respond and so the Sorrow continued. “You are covered in sadness. You bring death and with it comes sorrow. The dead cry out and they fall on deaf ears- but the dead are not silent. You will see the despair of the lives you have ended.”

Blood steamed out of one of the Sorrow’s eyes and his ghostly form raised into the air and went down the river; Snake, guided by an internal instinct, followed him.

The Sorrow floated to the riverbank while Snake trudged forward; a few moments passed before a transparent figure appeared in front of him. Snake didn’t recognize the person, but he did recognize the uniform from his first deployment in Iraq. The man lunged at Snake and he was barely able to dodge in the high water.

More figures in the same uniform passed until Snake recognized a face- it belonged to the first person he killed in close quarters in Iraq. His gun jammed and he found the only other unlucky fucker without a gun that was on the battlefield- Snake resorted to throwing his gun at the man and approaching with a knife before stabbing him in the throat.

Snake dodged the man’s ghost and continued down the river, the Sorrow watched him with interest the entire time.

He dodged ghosts for many long minutes- quickly losing count of time and the number of people he killed. Snake almost became disinterested in the faces that passed by until an Outer Heaven uniform came into view. Shoot Gunner’s face, caved in by Snake’s handgun in the past, stumbled by him with his arms outstretched. He stepped past the poor kid’s zombie-like apparition and watched him leave. Other Outer Heaven soldiers passed him, from nameless soldiers to Big Boss’ elites that Snake distinctly remembered.

At the end of Outer Heaven the devil himself stumbled towards him… except, it wasn’t Big Boss. Faded scars that Snake had never seen on Big Boss covered the man’s face, in addition to a chunk of metal embedded in his forehead. On top of all that the man’s sneaking suit didn’t fully disguise a metal left arm Big Boss never had. An imperfect copy of the man reached or for Snake, groaning his name in a voice Snake heard in his nightmares. The devil that took the name Big Boss and died in his place stumbled past Snake, having missed him, and continued walking.

Snake turned back in time to nearly miss a familiar face- his first assassination target when he worked for the CIA. The mission was to kill a laid-back politician the CIA wanted gone, Snake sat in a sniper hole for five hours before the target reached his hotel room where Snake promptly blew his brains out in a single shot.

Other targets passed him, more than the kills before he joined FOXHOUND, some he had forgotten and some he distinctly remembered being shown to him by Colonel Campbell while he was listing out Snake’s war crimes in order to blackmail him into going to Shadow Moses. Seeing his crimes- innocents and children in assignments with no witnesses- laid out like this churned his stomach.

Unbidden Liquid’s voice entered his mind. “You enjoyed all the killing!”

At the time Snake denied it on reflex but now he had a river full of bodies behind him and in front of him. There was a type of satisfaction in taking a life, Snake found, either from a job well done, or from being able to overpower someone and end their life. But Liquid wasn’t right- it was simply his job- Snake even stopped once the nightmares caught up to him.

“Created to kill?” The Sorrow whispered, pulling Liquid’s statement right out of Snake’s mind. “You certainly choose to do it well and… well, it was what… Zero had in store for you.”

“No…” Snake mumbled. “That’s a lie- I’m not… like that.”

He felt so sick to his stomach he almost missed a Zanzibar Land soldier shambling towards him. Another person that he killed that was simply a puddle in this massive river. More of Big Boss’ men passed him and Snake barely noticed- consumed by his own sorrow- until the man himself stood in front of him.

“Your father stood with me here in this river of tears over forty years ago.” The Sorrow said.

“Snake.” Rage filled Big Boss’ faint voice- a voice so similar to Snake’s own.

“He killed many as well, and continued to kill many more after our meeting, you followed faithfully in his footsteps, Snake.” The ghost continued.

“He’s not my father.” Snake growled in anger as Big Boss stumbled closer. “I’m nothing like him.”

Suddenly, a couple feet away from Snake, Big Boss burst into flames, and screamed in agony, shouting Snake’s name as his skin burned. It was a scene he had relieved many times.

Snake stepped out of the path of Big Boss’ flaming form.

“Just like how you killed your father you will kill my son, Snake, and then be killed by the tool used to end his life. Sorrow encompasses you.”

He ignored the ghost in favor of trudging forward; the next ghost wore a FOXHOUND uniform, a random faceless grunt quickly followed by more and then Baker and Decoy Octopus- both killed by the FOXDIE inside him.

Eventually, Psycho Mantis appeared and he looked around confused before spotting Snake and the Sorrow.

He threw his head back and cackled. “Snake, how fortunate to see you on the edge of death but this will not be your end yet- I will see you then and even before.”

With that Mantis lunged at Snake and he leaped out of the way just in time to feel Mantis’ arm phase through his shoulder.

Sniper Wolf and Vulcan Raven passed as well- the latter nodded at him and simply walked past.

Finally, Liquid Snake appeared in front of him; the man was missing an arm- the one Ocelot stole- and stared at Snake in disbelief for a moment before sneering.

“Brother.” Liquid snarled. “It seems I didn’t do a good enough job at putting you down.”

“Eat shit.” Snake responded.

Liquid stalked forward. “I’ll see you in Hell, Snake, and I’ll make you eat your words.”

In lieu of attacking Liquid pushed past him, hitting Snake’s shoulder and forcing him to stumble to the side. Snake turned and watched him disappear a few feet away.

“The blood of your family is on your hands.” The Sorrow whispered.

Snake shot him a glare and kept walking. More soldiers walked by him, targets and guards in the way on Philanthropy missions- Otacon didn’t like it when he killed so deaths were minimal relative to other missions.

Finally, soldiers on the tanker walked down the river, grabbing at him as they passed until there was no one left.

The Sorrow moved from his spot on the riverbank and moved in front of Snake. “Wake up.”

The ghost reached a hand into Snake’s chest and he shouted in pain as it took over his senses. Snake fell into the water and it filled his aching lungs and Snake couldn’t get up no matter how much he tried to move his body. He died, Snake was sure, his heart wasn’t beating and he was going to lay here, drowning, for eternity.

Snake opened his eyes to see Otacon’s worried face, covered in rain, looking down at him. He surged upwards, turned onto his stomach, and vomited water and bile in a desperate attempt to get air into his lungs.

Beside him, Otacon rambled. “Snake- I thought you were going to die on me you weren’t breathing and your- your heart stopped. If I didn’t know CPR-”

“Otacon.” Snake coughed.

Immediately his partner quieted.

“We need to... to-” Snake groaned as a headache pounded against his skull. “Get out of here. Drive the boat- I’ll be fine.”

“Right- yes- I’ll do that.” Otacon scurried back to the driver’s seat and turned the small boat around.

Snake pushed himself up onto his knees and crawled leaned against the side of the rocking boat. Exhaustion, physical and emotional, fell onto Snake’s shoulders and he quickly passed out to the sound of Otacon talking about Olga Gurlukovich.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, and the answer to the title's question is no, snake's don't have tear ducts. And, yes, Big Boss is dead in this fic.


End file.
